


Common Ground

by queenofchildren



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Abby has to let her little girl go, But Abby would approve eventually, Dialogue and Character Study, F/M, Gen, Not Bellarke-Romance yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 15:43:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2698343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofchildren/pseuds/queenofchildren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abby wants to take Bellamy to task for making Clarke leave Camp Jaha after she just got her back, but the conversation doesn't turn out as she expected. </p><p>Takes place after Human Trials, after Clarke and the others get back to Camp.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Common Ground

Abby is worried and stressed and she hasn't slept in close to 72 hours, but right now, she is mostly angry. Something's wrong with Clarke, something she couldn't figure out from the kids' vague hints about a search and rescue mission gone wrong, and she needs someone to blame.

Clarke wasn't injured when she stumbled back into camp with the Blake siblings, Collins and Murphy, but somehow the haunted look on her face whenever she glanced at Finn Collins was worse than shredded arteries and broken bones. At least those Abby knows how to deal with. What she does not know is what to do with this serious, urgent, defiant warrior she got back in exchange for the laughing ray of sunshine that was her daughter once upon a time. It fills her with anger, the kind of anger she tends to let out on other people, innocent people like Raven who did not deserve to be attacked and whose betrayed expression was almost as heartbreaking as her immediate forgiveness.

But this time Abby is sure the person she has singled out as being responsible actually deserves her anger, and while she can't slap him or banish him or even lock him up, she can tell him just what she thinks of his delusion that he's still in charge of anything down here.

The curtains at the entrance to Medical rustle and she takes a deep breath, calming herself, before she turns around to face Bellamy Blake.

There's a grim little smile on his face, and with his first words he is already mocking her.

“Chancellor Griffin! You're gonna want to lock me up again, I guess.”

“Yes, actually. But I won't.”

He looks surprised for a moment, before he understands and chuckles.

“Because then you'd have to arrest Clarke too. And we can't have the Chancellor's daughter in lockup – that would make you look bad.”

There's no point denying it.

“I hate politics, but I guess I'll have to get used to it until Chancellor Kane gets back.” She smiles, trying to lull him into complacency, but her smile is not returned.

“Why am I here?”

Well, her attempt to defuse the tension failed. Might as well start on the confrontation.

“Because I want to know what you're planning. Why you led my daughter out of this camp after I explicitly told you not to.”

He laughs, though she fails to see the humour in her question. “If you think anyone has the power to stop your daughter when she's got her mind set on something, you're not very smart for a doctor.”

Now he's just being provocative on purpose, and she won't let it get to her.

“Are you saying you had nothing to do with her decision to go after your friends?”

“She would have gone with or without me. Clarke doesn't need me or anyone else to make her decisions.”

Abby takes a moment to study him. She knew _of_ him, of course – the boy who helped his mother hide his sister under the floor for almost sixteen years, the man who shot Thelonious to be sent to the ground with her. That's nothing if not loyal. But she had thought that his loyalty began and ended with his sister. Until Thelonious told her of Clarke making a case for his pardon. Until she witnessed him looking utterly dejected when they failed to find the 100 at the ruined dropship. And until the morning two days ago when she watched her daughter actually _run_ to throw herself into his arms. Nothing about this man is like she expected.

“What does she need you for then?”

He flinches, and for the first time his imperturbable façade seems in danger of slipping.

“I'm the one who gets his hands dirty.”

He reminds her of Marcus in that moment, all about making the tough decisions but longing for redemption at the same time. The bravado in his voice sounds tired, as if it takes him too much energy to keep it up but he doesn't know how else to be. And he's so young, she thinks, they were all so young when they sent them off to an unknown fate. _You sent us down here to die_ , those were Clarke's words according to Thelonious, and so many of them did. And judging by her daughter's actions these last few days, it is only a matter of time before Clarke is ripped from her again, for good this time. The thought knocks into her so painfully that she has to lean back against the operating table.

Maybe her fear is showing, or maybe he's just thinking along the same lines right now, but Bellamy's next words seem to anticipate her worries.

“She's strong, you know.”

And if only the weak died, she need not fear for her daughter's safety. But what good is strength if it comes without a sense of self-preservation?

"She's too selfless, too idealistic...“ and before she can stop herself, the words slip out: "just like her father.“ _And it will get her killed just like him_ , Abby thinks and has to turn away to hide her tears from a man at least twenty years her junior.

To his great credit and her great surprise, he does not exploit her moment of weakness.

"It's not idealism that kept her alive. It's determination.“ His voice is soft, and his next sentence is an act of mercy. "You and your daughter are more alike than you think. I'm guessing you broke a few rules as well, trying to get Raven's pod to the ground. That's exactly what Clarke is doing: She just wants to make sure the people she cares about are safe. You need to let her do that.“

The words are an order, but the way he says them amounts to a plea, and Abby guesses pleading doesn't come easily to Bellamy Blake. So, for the sake of her own dignity and because he is willing to plead her daughter's case, she swallows her anger and lets him go, wondering if that means she's letting her daughter go as well.

***

When she exits Medical a little later, her eyes immediately find Clarke's blonde head. Of course it's next to Bellamy's dark curls, the two huddled together over something on the table between them. Standing in the shadow of the station, Abby takes a moment to watch them as they go from heated discussion to nods of agreement to a flash of pain over Clarke's face that makes Abby want to storm over and comfort her little girl from whatever is making her hurt. But before she can move a muscle, she sees Bellamy extend a hand to lay it softly over Clarke's on the table top, and Clarke's features smooth over immediately. The sight dulls the last of Abby's anger. Clarke may not be okay, far from it, but at least she has someone to help ease her pain.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why I keep writing these little dialogue-heavy character studies... I'm working on a longer, hopefully fluffier romance piece though.  
> As for Bellamy's idea that Clarke needs him to be the one who gets his hands dirty, I think that's only in his head. My theory after 1x07 is that he thinks of her as the good one and him as the bad guy, and that he does the bad things so she doesn't have to. I don't think that's how she sees it though.


End file.
